Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway Review: “Either/Or” Misses the Mark at the Midtown International Theatre Festival at WorkShop Theater’s Main Stage Theater

In Dayle Ann Hunt’s uber-dysfunctional family play “Either/Or,” currently running at the Midtown International Theatre Festival, protagonist Deni Rutland (Courtney Bess) contemplates a way to escape the cycle of abuse and collusion extant in her nuclear family – a family that apparently has not made any effort to address the alcoholism of its head Herbert “Pop” Rutland (Joseph Rose) and…

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Off-Broadway Review: “The First Church of Mary…” at the 2016 New York Musical Festival at the June Havoc Theatre

July 19, 2016 | june havoc theatre, NY Musical Theatre, Off-Broadway > | June Havoc Theatre, New York Musical Festival

“The medium is the message.” – Marshall McLuhan Evangelist preacher Adamenses Huckster (Geoff Davin) is a huckster indeed. Her “redemptive” message seems simple enough: “You can choose to see things differently.” And that is exactly what the revivalist hopes to accomplish in her fifth annual benefit concert, revival, and pot luck dinner for her First Church of Mary, the Repentant…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Small Mouth Sounds” at Ars Nova at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre

July 18, 2016 | all i want is one night, Off-Broadway > | Ars Nova, Pershing Square Signature Center, The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre

When a play is about something more than boy meets girl or boy meets boy, (or boy becomes girl) it can be an inspiring, even cathartic experience. This week, for example, I saw a show that is theoretically about suffering, but it is funny and touching and relatable. Oh, did I mention that it is also about not talking? I…

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Off-Broadway Review: “12th Nighted” and “Fire on Babyon” at Fresh Fruit Festival 2016 at the Wild Project

July 18, 2016 | blaine mizer new york, carousel, little gem play review, Off-Broadway, the play - little gem, yen at mcc theater > | Fresh Fruit Festival, The Wild Project

Hands down, Patrick Thomas McCarthy has written a slam-dunk retelling of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” aptly entitled “12th Nighted” which enjoyed its final performance at Fresh Fruit Festival 2016 on Sunday July 17, 2016 at the Wild Project. There are familiar characters: Cesario and Viola (Alexandra Bonesho); Olivia (Anne Pasquale); Maria (Alyssa Abraham); Melvolio (Keith Herron); and Toby (David Palmer Brown)….

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Off-Broadway Review: “No End of Blame: Scenes of Overcoming” at PTP/NYC 2016 at Atlantic Stage 2

July 15, 2016 | Off-Broadway > | Atlantic Stage 2, PTP/NYC

“Between my finger and my thumb/The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.” – Seamus Heaney, “Digging” “Give us a pencil. . .Somebody. . .Give us a pencil.” – Bela in “No End of Blame” The Potomac Theatre Project is celebrating its thirtieth repertory season in 2016 with ten consecutive seasons in New York City. The Company’s annual visit is…

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Off-Broadway Review: “The Annotated History of the American Muskrat” Stays Underwater Too Long at Ice Factory 2016 at the New Ohio Theatre

July 14, 2016 | black no, history, Off-Broadway, review of fren hill, water for > | Ice Factory, New Ohio Theater

“I want us to start over. I don’t want to fight any more. I don’t want to be angry, all the time. I just want us to be happy, just you and me. No one else.” – Patsy to Trevor, Part 3 “And a garden [for our two dogs] to play in.” – Trevor to Patsy, Part 3 There are…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Good” Grapples with Evil at PTP/NYC 2016 at Atlantic Stage 2

July 13, 2016 | broadway grapples, Off-Broadway, on the head of a pin > | Atlantic Stage 2, Potomac Theatre Project, PTP/NYC

“In short, it is much easier to see a thing through from the point of view of abstract principle than from that of concrete responsibility.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Letters and Papers from Prison” When under stress, Professor John Halder (Michael Kaye) hears songs of comfort that no one else can hear. Numbed by fantasy fueled by denial – like many…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Oslo” Enacts History on Stage at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater

July 12, 2016 | fire flies, history, house that will, mitzi newhouse theater, Off-Broadway, on the head of a pin, the house > | Lincoln Center, Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater

If I told you—and I will —the components of the new show at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theatre, my guess is you might not run out to see it. It is three hours long. There are two intermissions. There is no music and no dancing. There are no stars. It’s basically twelve people talking about peace in the Mideast. And…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Are We Human” at Ice Factory 2016 at The New Ohio Theatre

July 8, 2016 | adam perry broadway, Off-Broadway > | New Ohio Theater

“Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity” ― James Baldwin, “The Fire Next Time” Whether or not we are truly human has been in question since one of the two Judeo-Christian creation myths sported Adam and Eve no…

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Off-Broadway Review: “On The Verge” at the Attic Theater Company at Walkerspace

June 25, 2016 | Off-Broadway > | Attic Theater Company, Walkerspace

In the Attic Theater Company’s production of Eric Overmyer’s démodé “On The Verge,” currently playing at Walkerspace, three women venture forth from the relative safety of late nineteenth-century Terra Haute, Indiana to explore the unknown realms of Terra Incognita. Although it is not entirely certain what provides the source of their motivation for wanderlust, they seem ready to move on…

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